WotLK Beta patch notes and other news

Take a look at the Wrath of the Lich King beta patch notes after the break. WoW Insider believes these to be the real thing. With the activation of the beta downloader and beta site, it seems like there is quite a bit of activity at Blizzard tonight. Expect to hear more as the night goes on.

If you haven't signed up for the beta yet and wish to do so, you can head over to the beta opt-in page and make your intentions know to Blizzard. It is rumored that the first round of invites will begin shortly, and we're all waiting on pins and needles for the emails.

Additionally, any information gained through the beta does not have an NDA attached to it, so expect to see a lot more information in the hours and days ahead.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King: Beta

Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Beta Test. The list below contains information on the current available content for testing and general information. This information is subject to change. Alpha testers should note that your characters have been temporarily locked out. In a few weeks time, we will unlock these characters and you will be able to continue to level them. Please visit the Beta forums to submit feedback and discuss the expansion development with others.

General

The continent of Northrend is now available! To travel there, visit one of four transportation masters in either Orgrimmar, Undercity, Stormwind Harbor,or Menethil Harbor.

The floating magical city of Dalaran is now available!

The Barber Shop has been implemented and you can now visit one of the Barber Shops in the major cities to change your appearance.

The all new Achievement System has been implemented.

Transportation between Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra can be found at the Tuskarr villages in those zones.

All items and effects which grant bonuses to spell damage and spell healing are being consolidated into a single stat, Spellpower. This stat will appear with the same values found on items which grant "increased spell damage and healing" such as on typical Mage and Warlock itemization.

For classes which do not heal, they should see no change in the character sheet other than new tooltip wording.

Healing characters will see their bonus healing numbers on the character sheet decrease, however, all healing spells have been modified to receive more benefit from spellpower than they received from bonus healing, with a net effect of no change to the amount healed by their spells. Some talents have had to be rebalanced to accommodate this change, but the amount healed will remain roughly the same. In addition, some talents will provide only healing spell power.

NPC Transportation Locations

Horde:

Undercity to Vengeance Landing (Howling Fjord)

Orgrimmar to Warsong Hold (Borean Tundra)

Alliance:

Menethil Harbor to Valgarde (Howling Fjord)

Stormwind Harbor to Valiance Keep (Borean Tundra)

Known Issues

The current patch notes are incomplete, but will be more progressively more comprehensive in each patch.

World Environment Zones

The following zones are available for testing: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly Hills, Sholazar Basin, and Zul'Drak.

Dungeons

The following dungeons are available for testing:

Howling Fjord: Utgarde Keep (70-72)

Borean Tundra: The Nexus (70-72)

Dragonblight: Azjol-Nerub (72-74)

Grizzly Hills: Drak'Tharon Keep (74-76)

Storm Peaks: The Halls of Stone (77-79)

Classes

All Classes are available for play. Spells and talents will be available for testing past 70.

The Death Knight Hero class is now available for play.

Death Knights will now start with 0 talent points at level 55.

Creating a new Death Knight will start you at level 55 in Eastern Plaguelands.

The Death Knight start zone, Acherus, the Ebon Hold, is fully implemented and is located in the Eastern area of Eastern Plaguelands.

Druid

Brambles (Balance): Now increases the damage done by your Treants, and also damage caused from your Treants and Barkskin has a 5/10/15% chance to Daze the target for 3 sec.

Celestial Focus (Balance): The stun proc now works with Starfall.

Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.

Faerie Fire (Feral): Now an 11-point talent, down from being a 21-point talent.

Feral Charge (Feral) is now a 21-point talent, up from being a 11-point talent.

Force of Nature (Balance): Cooldown reduced to 2 minutes, down from 3.

Hurricane: No longer has a cooldown (was 1 minute).

Improved Faerie Fire (Feral): Now also works with spell hit, in addition to ranged and melee hit %.

Improved Mark of the Wild (Restoration): Now a 2-point talent, down from a 5-point talent.

Improved Tranquility (Restoration): Now also reduces the cooldown of your Tranquility spell by 25/50%.

Mangle (Feral): Now increases the damage done by Maul in addition to Shred.

Moonglow (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.

Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.

Nature's Focus (Restoration): Now a 3 point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 1, up from Tier 2. Now also includes Nourish.

Nature's Grace (Balance): Now also reduces the global cooldown of your Wrath spell by 50% while in effect.

Nature's Grasp (Balance): Can now be used and can proc indoors.

Nature's Reach (Balance): Now also reduces threat generated by Balance spells by 15/30%.

New Spell: Revive - Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)

Omen of Clarity (Restoration): Now a passive spell. Now also works for spells (healing and damage). Proc rate is roughly 6% with a 10 second internal cooldown.

Primal Tenacity (Feral) now reduces damage while stunned by 5/10/15%, and reduces the duration of fear effects by 5/10/15%.

Remove Curse can now be used in Tree of Life form.

Soothe Animal can now be used on Dragonkin as well as Beasts.

Soothe Animal is now instant cast.

Subtlety (Restoration): Now a 3-point talent, down from a 5-point talent. Also moved to Tier 2, up from Tier 3. Also now only reduced threat for Restoration spells, and reduces the chance that your healing over time spells (Lifebloom, Regrowth and Rejuvenation) will be dispelled, rather than all Druid spells. Threat management for Balance can now be found in the Balance tree, within Nature's Reach.

Survival of the Fittest (Feral): Increased to 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.

The mana regeneration penalty when in Bear Form, Dire Bear Form and Cat Form has been removed.

Tranquil Spirit (Restoration) now also includes Nourish.

Tree of Life (Restoration): 30% snare penalty has been removed.

Tree of Life (Restoration): Can now cast Dispel Curse.

Tree of Life (Restoration): You can now cast all Restoration spells (Healing Touch) in the form, but Tree of Life now only reduces the mana cost of your healing over time spells (Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Regrowth and Flourish) by 20%.

Vengeance (Balance): Now also works with Starfall.

Hunter

All pet families now have one unique ability. New abilities have been added for families such as bears and sporebats.

Blessing of Freedom renamed Hand of Freedom. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.

Blessing of Light and Greater Blessing of Light removed. Their effects have been folded into all relevant abilities.

Blessing of Protection renamed Hand of Protection. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. All ranks now cost 6% of base mana.

Blessing of Sacrifice renamed Hand of Sacrifice, is now only 1 rank and transfers 20% of the damage taken to the caster, duration reduced to 12 seconds, cooldown increased to 2 minutes. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.

Blessing of Salvation renamed Hand of Salvation, now reduces total threat on the target by 2% per second for 10 seconds while also reducing all damage and healing done by 10%. Only one Hand spell can be on the target per paladin at any one time. Now costs 6% of base mana.

Conviction (Retribution) now increases critical chance with all spells and melee attacks.

Divine Intellect (Holy) moved to tier 2, increases total Intellect by 3/6/9/12/15%.

Divine Intervention cooldown reduced to 20 minutes.

Divine Protection and Divine Shield now cost 3% of base mana.

Divine Purpose (Retribution) now reduces chance to be hit by spells and ranged attacks by 1/2/3%.

Divine Strength (Holy) moved to tier 1 in the Protection tree.

Greater Blessing of Salvation removed.

Hammer of Justice now costs 3% of base mana.

Hammer of Wrath is now considered a Retribution spell, moved from Holy, mana cost reduced, missile speed increased, now usable on targets below 35% health.

Circle of Healing (Holy): Now works on any targets in the caster's raid, and is now a "smart" heal and chooses the lowest health targets to heal first within it's range. Also now has a 6 second cooldown. Also no longer will heal summoned Snakes from Hunter's Snake Trap.

Enlightenment (Discipline): Now also gives 1% spell damage and 1% heal per point.

Focused Will (Discipline): Now increases healing effects on you by 3/4/5%, down from 4/7/10%.

Force of Will (Discipline): This talent now increases your spell damage by a flat amount, rather than increasing your spells by a %. (Now increases school %, rather than selected spells damage %). In other words, your spell damage gained from this talent is now reflected on your character sheet, rather than the skill tool-tips.

Holy Fire: Cast time reduced to to 2 seconds, down from 3.5. Damage increased roughly 60%. Duration for the damage over time effect reduced to 7 seconds, down from 10. Holy Fire now has a 10 second cooldown.

Lightwell (Holy): Cast time reduced to .5 sec, down from 1.5 sec. Charges increased to 10, up from 5. Now breaks from any attack that hits you for 30% or more of your total health. Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5.

Mind Control now has only one rank and costs 12% of base mana.

Mind Soothe now has only one rank, costs 6% of base mana and has no max target level.

Mind Vision now costs 3% of base mana.

New Talent: Improved Spirit Tap (Shadow) - Gives you a 50/100% chance to gain a 50% bonus to your Spirit after gaining a critical effect chance from your Mind Blast or Shadow Word: Death spells. For the duration, your mana will regenreate at a 25% rate while casting. Lasts 8 sec.

New Spell: Earthliving Weapon - Imbue the Shaman's weapon with earthen life. Increases healing done by x and each heal has a 20% chance to proc Earthliving on the target, healing an additionaly over 12 sec. Lasts 30 minutes.

Storm Reach (Elemental): Now also increases the radius of your Thunder spell by 10/20%.

Strength of Earth Totem now also increases agility.

Tranquil Air Totem has been removed. (Threat is being addressed by modifications to the base threat of players and/or "baked" into tanking abilities.)

Unleashed Rage is now raid wide.

Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified.

Windwall Totem has been removed.

Wrath of Air is now a flat 10% spell haste totem.

Warlock

Aftermath (Destruction) - Now a 2-point talent, down from 5.

All demon abilities and spells will automatically be learned as pets gain levels. Demon Master trainers will be removed.

Blood Pact now works raid-wide (not just in party).

Cataclysm (Destruction) - Now also increases your chance to hit with Destruction spells by 1% per point.

Curse of Recklessness will no longer prevent Fear effects, only prevent NPCs from fleeing (e.g. at low health).

Dark Pact: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.

Demon Armor - Now increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%, but no longer has in-combat health regeneration.

Demon Skin, Demon Armor and Fel Armor are no longer Magic effects and cannot be dispelled.

Fel Armor - Now increases your spell damage equal to 30% of your total Spirit, but no longer increases healing done by spells and effects by 20%.

Fel Stamina (Demonology) has been merged with Fel Intellect into Fel Vitality.

Howl of Terror now costs 15% of base mana.

Improved Curse of Weakness (Affliction) is now "Frailty" - Increases the amount of attack power reduced by your Curse of Weakness spell by 10/20%, and increases the amount of armor reduced by your Curse of Recklessness by 10/20%.

Improved Enslave Demon (Demonology) is now a Tier 5 talent, up from Tier 4.

Improved Lash of Pain (Destruction) and Improved Firebolt (Destruction) have been merged into one talent, Demonic Power.

Improved Shadow Bolt (Destruction) - Now increases damage by your next Shadow damage spells by 3/6/9/12/15%, down from 4/8/12/16/20%.

Mana Feed: Tooltip updated to be more consistent with other similar effects.

Master Demonologist – Felguard (Demonology) - Now increases all damage by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces all damage done to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.

New Talent: Demonic Empowerment (Demonology) - Grants your Summoned Demon power for a short time.

New Talent: Eradication (Affliction) - Your Corruption, Siphon Life and Curse of Agony ticks have a 5/10/15% chance to increase your spell haste by 20% for 8 sec. This effect has a 10 second cooldown.

New Talent: Molten Core (Destruction) - Your Shadow spells and damage over time effects have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage of your Fire spells by 10% for 6 sec.

Pyroclasm (Destruction) - Now also includes Conflagrate.

Shadowfury (Destruction) - Can now be cast while moving. Stun duration increased to 3 seconds, up from 2.

Soul Link (Demonology) is now an 11-point talent (used to be a 31-point talent), but the 5% bonus damage from this talent has been removed. In addition, the damage absorbed by Soul Link is now 15%, down from 20%.

Soul Siphon (Affliction): Now also increases the damage of your Drain Soul.

Suppression (Affliction) is now a 3-point talent, down from 5. Now increases your chance to hit with Affliction spells by 1/2/3%, down from 1/2/3/4/5%.

Anticipation (Protection) now increases chance to dodge by 1/2/3/4/5%, moved to tier 2.

Challenging Shout cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.

Death Wish (Fury) no longer makes you immune to Fear effects.

Death Wish and Sweeping Strikes have swapped locations in their respective talent trees.

Defensive Stance now increases threat by 45%.

Defiance (Protection) removed, replaced by Incite and moved to a new location on tier 2.

Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.

Improved Bloodrage (Protection) now increases rage generation of both the instant and over-time effects by 25/50%.

Improved Disarm (Protection) now reduces the cooldown of Disarm and Shield Break by 5/10/15 seconds and increases damage taken by disarmed targets by 4/7/10%.

Improved Shield Block (Protection) now has 2 ranks and reduces cooldown of Shield Block by 5/10 secs. It no longer increases the number of blocks.

Iron Will (Arms) now has only 3 ranks, reducing the duration of Stun and Charm effects by 10/20/30%.

Last Stand (Protection) cooldown reduced to 6 minutes.

Mace Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.

Mocking Blow now only has one rank and causes weapon damage, cooldown reduced to 1 min and can now be used in Defensive Stance.

Overpower now only has one rank and no longer causes any bonus damage (i.e. weapon damage only).

Poleaxe Specialization (Arms) now also increases critical damage done by Axes and Polearms by 1/2/3/4/5%.

Pummel now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.

Shield Bash now only has one rank and will cause damage based on a % of AP.

Shield Block now increases chance to block and amount blocked by 100% for the next attack. Cooldown increased to 30 seconds.

Shield Slam is now available to all warriors, starting at level 40.

Shield Specialization (Protection) moved to Tier 1, now increases rage by 2 on a successful block.

Sword Specialization (Arms) can no longer trigger more than once per 6 seconds.Toughness (Protection) moved to tier 3.

Professions

The following tradeskills are available to train up to 425: First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, Skinning, Enchanting, and Leatherworking.

User Interface

The /cower emote now has an animation.

Macros and key bindings are now saved server-side so there is no longer a need to reconfigure them when logging in using another computer.

Shift-clicking to loot mail: You can now hold Shift and click on mail in your inbox to automatically loot any items and gold without opening the mail. This default behavior can be changed via Auto Loot Mail in the Interface Options (Controls).

Combat Log Changes:

The combat log now differentiates between a spell failure due to resistance and spell failure due to missing the target. Where once both events reported as a resist; a spell missing the target is now reported as a miss.

Overhealing is now reported in the combat log.

When a source of damage is entirely prevented (by a shield block, a full resist, or a damage shield like Power Word:Shield, the prevented amount will now be displayed.